Transportation at UC Davis

Bikes, Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Imagine almost 38,000-plus students, faculty, staff and visitors at UC Davis on the main Davis campus on any given weekday — and 85 percent of them travel here from off campus. What’s their transport of choice?

By the 2016-17 Numbers

On an average weekday, here’s how people get to UC Davis:

37 percent bike

30 percent drive alone

19 percent ride the bus

8 percent walk or skate

5 percent carpool

1 percent rides Amtrak

We know the answer! Bikes, feet, skates, cars, buses, trains — and the very occasional airplane. More than a third of those UC Davis commuters pedal to campus.

Transportation and Parking Services and the Police Department are important partners for bicyclists, ensuring that riders, pedestrians and drivers have a safe and enjoyable experience in their travel.

Many services for bicyclists

TAPS offers a number of services for bicyclists. Bike parking, including bike lockers at four campus locations, can be found throughout the campus. We also have showers for commuters and a bike-lock cutting service.

The campus maintains bike stations for adding air to tires and making simple repairs.

Our Bike Barn, located next to The Silo in central campus, is a full-service repair shop — and that’s where you can rent bikes if you need temporary wheels.

Free bus service

The Associated Students of UC Davis partner with the city of Davis to provide public transportation to the campus and city via the Unitrans bus system. Students pay nothing to ride, since their registration fees support the service.

Students are the drivers and conductors for our 48 buses as they motor through 19 routes and carry 4 million passengers a year (more than 22,000 on a typical day).

In the fleet are a few vintage double-decker London buses, part of the legacy of this service that students founded in 1968.

Trains and planes

We weren’t kidding about UC Davis having trains AND planes. Amtrak stops at the downtown Davis train depot several times a day, offering a convenient link for commuters from Sacramento and points to the Bay Area and beyond.

In addition, our University Airport — the only one in the UC system — offers aviation services, facilities and programs for our community, including flight lessons through the Cal Aggie Flyers.

Encouragement to go green

We ask our campus community to consider using cleaner-air transport options such as a bus, train, carpool or vanpool — or switching to biking and walking.

UC Davis students, staff and faculty who exchange their single-vehicle parking permit for a green option are eligible for goClub benefits and incentives.

Travel assistance

As part of our safety services, UC Davis Safe Rides service includes after-hour rides for the campus community both within campus and from campus to any location in the city of Davis when the bus isn’t running.

In addition, Safe Rides offers VIP wheelchair service anywhere on campus at any time, and from the campus to anywhere in the city of Davis 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., when Unitrans isn’t running.